Maternity Leave

Part VIII

An R.L. Mathewson Chronicle

“This isn’t what we were promised, Daddy,” Abbi said evenly with a glare as she folded her arms over her small chest and-

Swallowed nervously when Charlie was forced to turn her head and bury her face against the pillow and released another scream. Once she was done, she raised her head only to bury her face back against the pillow and release another scream as Devin’s legs threatened to give out, forcing him to grab hold of the side of the emergency room gurney as he struggled to keep it together while he watched his wife struggle through the next contraction. He couldn’t do this, Devin thought, tightening his hold around the siderail only to curse when Dustin pulled himself onto the gurney and joined Charlie as she opened her mouth and-

“Hey, sweetie,” Charlie said with a warm smile for the little boy that had her wrapped around his little finger.

“Are you okay, Mommy?” Dustin asked, covering her hand with both of his, careful of her IV.

“I’m fine, sweetie,” she said, somehow managing to keep that smile on her face as her jaw clenched and a panicked expression took over that had her best friend mumbling, “I-I need to sit down,” from where he lay curled up in the fetal position on the floor.

“Then why are you screaming?” Dustin asked, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth as Abbi pulled herself up onto the gurney to join her brother.

“Because I’m really excited about the baby,” Charlie told her with a smile as she slowly exhaled only to stop mid-exhale and go perfectly still before asking, “You know what would be fun?”

“No, what?” Abbi asked, looking curious as Devin reached over and took his wife’s other hand in his and-

Oh, Christ, Devin thought, barely able to bite back a grunt when his wife wrapped her hand around his and squeezed, making breathing a thing of the past. Slowly exhaling, he forced a smile as he took over for his wife, who wasn’t looking that great at the moment. “Why don’t you go show Uncle Lucifer the desserts in the cafeteria?”

“That does sound like fun,” Lucifer said as he picked Dustin up and tossed him over his shoulder before reaching for Abbi.

“We want to see the baby,” Abbi said, moving to duck out of Lucifer’s reach, but his cousin simply grabbed her and threw her over his other shoulder.

“Good luck,” Lucifer said, ignoring Abbi’s long-suffering sigh and carried the twins out of the room as Devin shifted his focus back to his wife and-

“I’d really like more drugs now.”